Because of Amnesia: The Lightning Thief
by Angelfabeth
Summary: What would happen to you if you got amnesia? Get sent back in time to read a couple of books to help you find your lost memory? I think not. But then again, I've never been normal. I'm Percy Jackson and this is my story. Literally. R
1. Chapter 1

**Hi Everyone! This is my new story Because of Amnesia: The Lightning Thief. I read a couple of these fics and I just had to do one of my own. DO NOT EXPECT REGULAR UPDATES! I REPEAT: NO REGULAR UPDATES! I have heaps going on…**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Angelfabeth**

Chapter 1: Crazy Just About Sums It Up

_Percy's Point of View_

"Crazy idea time," I said.

Bianca looked at me nervously. "Anything," she said. I told her to distract Talos and ran for the maintenance hatch.

"What are you doing Percy?!" Thalia shrieked.

"Get back here boy!" Zoe ordered.

I didn't reply and tried to balance myself on the shifting scraps of metal. Steeling myself, I took a deep breath and just as the foot came down upon me, I jumped. I heard screaming as I slipped into the hatch. It was dark and rusty inside and I quickly followed the tunnel - did it classify as a tunnel? - with my sword out just in case.

I reached what seemed to be the thing's head. There was a huge control panel in front of me with loads of confusing knobs, buttons and twiddly things. I could see Grover lying motionless on the ground and in my panic, I hit a couple of random levers and cut a few wires for good measure.

The automaton went still. It suddenly moved and made the whole room tilt. I slammed into one wall, then another, breaking some bones along the way. _That's going to leave a bruise in the morning_. Damn my ADHD brain.

I realised something was wrong when electricity started dancing around and the room started shuddering and moving up and down like a yoyo. I felt a searing pain everywhere and dimly realised that I had been electrocuted before blackness overcame my vision.

o.O.o.O.o

_Thalia's Point of View_

I felt a familiar tugging sensation as I threw some lighting at Talos. I aimed for another shot when I noticed Percy jumping around like a lunatic near the thing's foot.

"What are you doing Percy?!" I screamed, fear rendering me immobile for a moment. I couldn't do anything as I watched the metal limb com down and squash Percy like a bug.

"Percy!" I heard voices other than mine, but at that moment I didn't care. I used my spear and a large arc of lightning came out of its end, hitting that stupid metal robot with a loud BANG. But apparently, it didn't do much more damage than a mosquito bite to us, and that pissed me off.

Talos started walking toward Grover who was unconscious on the ground.

"Hey get back here you overgrown refrigerator!" I yelled, trying to get the thing's attention. So maybe it wasn't my best insult but I had other things on my mind, okay? It ignored me and lifted his foot getting ready to step on Grover like it did to Percy. I was about to rush at it, but Talos froze.

"Go Percy!" Bianca said, pumping her fist into the air.

"He's inside?" I asked, blanching. I didn't know whether to be relieved that he was alive or horrified: how the Hades was he going to get out?

Talos started to shake its head and started dancing like a spastic chicken. At any other time, I would have laughed but with Percy still inside, that wasn't an option. I could see the automaton short circuiting and prayed to any gods that were listening that it was insulated inside and that Kelp Head would be alright.

Talos started running away with bits of him falling off. Me, Zoe, Bianca and Grover – who had somehow regained consciousness – sprinted after it, but it was a hopeless case. Talos was now just a very large heap of useless tin.

We started looking for Percy, calling out his name. I lifted and hauled pieces of rusty metal, cutting and scraping my hands. I barely noticed. _Come on Percy, you're too stubborn to just die off like that,_ I repeated that in my head like a mantra as if that would make it true. It took over an hour of heaving chunks of junk before any of us found something.

"I've found him!" Grover called out, "B-but he doesn't look too go-good…" His voice cracked and we ran over to join him.

Percy looked terrible. That was the only way to put it. He had cuts, bruises and burns all over his body. His face was paler than I had ever seen it before with a deep gash down his cheek unwillingly reminding me of Luke. His left leg stuck out at an angle that made me nauseous and his right shoulder was definitely dislocated. Percy's blood was rapidly staining the ground below him. I vaguely remembered Annabeth telling me something like if a person's blood was flowing quickly, they had cut arteries, not veins. I shook my head trying to clear my head of the useless information. What I really needed now were a couple of years of medical knowledge. Now _that_ would have been useful.

You wouldn't believe what happened next. Zoe – yes I know, _Zoe_ of all people – took charge and ordered Grover to help her heal my cousin. They seemed to be doing fine on their own which left me and Bianca standing there awkwardly. Suddenly, the day's events caught up to me and all the adrenaline left my body, leaving me drained. I flopped to the ground and closed my eyes with a sigh. I listened to the sound of my friends breathing, the wind and Zoe's occasional instruction. Hang on… I opened an eye and saw Bianca fiddling with something shiny. I was on my feet in an instant.

"You took something." I said trying to keep my voice level, "That bow."

She looked ready to do a Grover – that is to say burst into tears. I didn't feel very sorry, if my suspicions were correct.

Bianca wordlessly showed me a metal figurine, her hand trembling. She held it almost reverently and that was what made me snap. I snatched the toy out of her hand and threw it to the ground

"How can you be thinking of Mythomagic at a time like this?!" I yelled in outrage. Anger coursed through me and I felt the urge to give her more than a little shock.

"I-I'm sor-"

"Well 'sorry' doesn't cut it! How could you think that that was worth more than Percy's life? Percy could very well be dead! Did you think of that? He saved your skin and this is how you repay him! It's his life on the line now. All for a stupi-"

"It's your fault that Percy is like this?" Grover said to Bianca, interrupting me. He trembled with anger, pointing at Percy's mangled and broken form.

"Thalia, Grover, that is enough. Whatever Bianca did is done now." Zoe said softly, "He is waking."

I can freely admit that I completely forgot about Bianca and rushed over to Percy's side. He moaned and his eyelids flickered, as if he were trying to open them. Percy blinked and revealed a pair of familiar sea green eyes. I could have cried in relief, but something was wrong. His eyes showed confusion and lots of pain which was a pretty normal reaction, but what really threw me was the utter terror swirling in those green depths. In the short time that I knew him, Percy had never shown any outward signs of fear. Anger? Annoyance? Cluelessness? Yes. Fear? Never.

My sense of foreboding increased as Percy squinted at Zoe, then Bianca, before resting on me as if trying to connect the dots. He showed no other reaction than more confusion until he looked at Grover. He made a rasping sound in his throat, trying to spead.

"Gr-Grover?"

Said satyr sniffed happily, "Yeah it's me."

"Where's Mrs. Dodds?"

Grover looked like he'd hit over the head with a fish.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" He stammered.

Percy frowned in confusion and looked at Grover with concern which should have been quite hard while lying on .

"You were outside the museum. When I was in trouble and Mrs. Dodds told me to follow her. She became this hag… monster… thing, and there was a pen which turned into a sword, and then I'm here. Who the hell are you?" Percy looked at me, Zoe and… _her_, when he asked the question. I almost broke down crying then and there, but if you tell anyone, you'd better be careful the next time you get on a plane.

"And why the hell is my best friend half donkey?" He demanded as an afterthought.

Grover had an indignant and pained expression on his face. He was about to say something when suddenly we were all falling through the air. I heard screaming and wind blowing through my hair. I landed with a painful thud on something flat and hard.

I quickly jumped up and took a look at my surroundings. My breath caught in my chest. In front of me were thirteen ten foot tall and very pissed off looking Gods and Goddesses. Zoe and Bianca stood up next to me.

"HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT THE WINTER SOLSTICE!" My father boomed.

"My lady." They said, bowing to Artemis.

"Zoe, what are you doing here and who are these people?" The moon goddess asked.

"Don't you know us?" I said incredulously.

Zoe looked like she was thinking hard. "What year is it, my lady?"

Artemis exchanged looks with the other gods and goddesses before saying "1993, why?"

"No it's not, it's 2007." I blurted out. Blame the ADHD.

Just then there was a bright flash of light and a piece of paper and several books fell onto the ground. Athena picked it up and said,

"It's a letter. Shall I read it?" After getting consent, she read out:

"_Dear Gods,_

_We have sent two demigods, two Hunters and a satyr back in time to read several book to change the future. Time will be frozen until you finish all the books. They are all about the life of a very important hero named Percy Jackson and he is one of the demigods we have sent. _

_We have noticed that he currently is suffering from amnesia, so he will regain his memories as you read the books. The future people will also age and go through their experiences during the book as it is being read, but the people from the future that are sent back in time will not die. _

_A couple more people will be sent during the books. Do not kill them as they have a vital role to play._

_The Fates"_

There was silence as the meaning of the letter sunk in. Percy had amnesia. We were reading books about his life to change the future.

"Introduce yourselves." Zeus said.

Zoe stepped forward and said "Zoe Nightshade, Lieutenant of Artemis."

Bianca was next, "Bianca di Angelo, Hunter of Artemis."

I could have sworn Hades paled when she said her name, but I said

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus." Hera gave Zeus a resentful look.

Grover stood up sniffing and said, "Grover Underwood, satyr."

I pointed at Percy, who had fallen unconscious again, and said "That's Percy Jackson… son of Poseidon."

There was an uproar at my words.

"YOU BROKE THE OATH!" My father thundered.

"Well you did it first!" Poseidon said accusingly.

"Am I the only one that actually kept the oath?" Hades demanded.

"You can finish arguing later; right now Percy looks like he is in a critical condition."

Everybody in the room turned to look at Hera with incredulity. It wasn't often coughnevercough that she cared for the wellbeing of demigods. She ignored it and said,

"Apollo, check on him, will you?"

Apollo jumped off his throne and shrunk down to normal size. He put his hands over Percy's body and started chanting in Greek.

"Before I wake him up, you may want to shrink down to normal size or the poor guy might faint again." Apollo said.

All of the gods shrank until they were the size of normal people. Everyone from the future rushed to his side. A moment later, Percy's eyes fluttered open. He gave a groan and started to sit up.

"What's happening?" He said.

We introduced ourselves and explained as much as possible without actually telling him anything about the gods. He looked a bit sceptical when we said the gods used Thankfully he didn't press us too hard for details.

"The first book is called **The Lightning Thief**." Athena said, "Who would like to read first?"

"I will." I said raising my hand. She handed me the book and I turned to the first page.

This was going to be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**OH MY GODS! I am so sorry this took so long to update! My computer died on me so I had to wait for it to get fixed. That plus me procrastinating…**

**Thank you to everyone who added my story to their Favourites and Alerts! It totally made my day. Those who reviewed, thank you thank you thank you! Have a digital cookie (::) You may want to read the first chapter again because it's a teensy bit different. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Percy Jackson and never will**

Chapter 2: I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher

_General Point of View_

**"I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher," **Thalia read, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting title, Kelp Head."

Percy blushed.

"That's probably what happens in the chapter." He said defensively. _It's probably my last memory too_, he thought.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"What's a half-blood?" Percy asked curiously.

"You'll find out later in the book." Grover said hastily.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Are thy really giving advice?" Zoe asked incredulously.

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That isn't half bad advice actually." Everyone stared at Athena with astonishment. "What? The less you know, the less your scent will attract monsters." She reasoned.

"B-but you just complimented _my _s- uh, Percy." Poseidon said quickly covering up his mistake.

The son of Poseidon watched the conversation with curiosity.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. **

All the half-bloods in the room nodded their heads.

**It's scary. **

"Yup,"

**Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"Unfortunately," Thalia said, remembering her close encounter with death.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they **_**sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"Well that's ominous." Apollo said.

"Ooh, big word." Artemis retorted.

Apollo pouted, as everyone else laughed. Thalia thought it was good to see Percy with a grin on his face again as she started reading.

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't warn us!" Hermes and Apollo shouted.

"Boys," Artemis muttered.

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"No it's not, that's my name." Percy said cheekily.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a **_**few **_**months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, **

"Damn, I got expelled again." Percy said under his breath.

**a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes!" Thalia, Bianca and Grover exclaimed.

Percy nodded seriously and Poseidon looked worried at that.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"Aha! You admitted it!" Thalia said.

"You do realise I never disagreed with you?" Percy asked questioningly.

"You really should eat more cereal, you know." Demeter said thoughtfully. Percy just gave her an odd look.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"You do realise you just called yourself a mental-case kid?" Thalia asked Percy.

"Yup," He replied, popping the 'p'.

"That sounds fascinating." Athena said.

"Sounds more like torture." Poseidon contradicted and all of the males in the room agreed with him.

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

"Hey, Percy thinks like you, Uncle P." Apollo piped up.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. **

"I guess you don't want Chiron to hear that, do you?" Bianca said.

"Who's Chiron?" Percy asked, and everyone winced having temporarily forgotten his amnesia.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. **

"You shouldn't be sleeping in class in the first place." Athena reprimanded.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Noooo! You jinxed it!" Apollo moaned dramatically.

"That's rule Number 11!" Hermes added.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

"Good, we need some action." Ares growled.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. **

A few people raised their eyebrows.

**I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

The throne room exploded into laughter. Percy blushed sheepishly.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

Everyone started laughing again.

"You are EPIC!" No points for guessing which two gods said that.

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"No! We want to hear more!" Hermes and Apollo yelled in unison.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Unlike _some_ people, Apollo, Percy obviously has better priorities than just causing mischief." Demeter chided.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, **

"Hag from hell." Percy muttered under his breath angrily, but everyone heard him.

**hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

A couple of angry looks were being sent towards the books in Thalia's hands.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"Thanks for that, Perce." Grover said drily, as a certain daughter of Zeus snickered in the background.

"Sorry." Percy said embarrassedly.

"Just wait until Percy gets to describe you." Grover grumbled, effectively shutting Thalia up.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Stupid satyr." Dionysus scolded.

"Nice way to blow your cover, Grover." Bianca said fondly, shaking her head. She had become quite fond of him during their stay at Westover Hall.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death **

"WHAT!?" Poseidon shouted.

**by in-school suspension **

"Oh, right." Poseidon said with a blush. Percy was really confused, why did this guy – someone he had only met today – feel the need to defend him? It felt nice but strange at the same time. There was something really familiar about that man…

**if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"YEAH, KILL HER! RIP HER HEAD OFF! WE NEED SOME ACTION ALREADY!" Ares bellowed, but cowered from the glare being sent his way by an angry god of the seas.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

All of the goddesses cooed except for Athena and Artemis.

"Only you would say something like that, Goat Boy" Thalia laughed.

"Would you stop calling me that." Grover complained half-heartedly.

"Goat boy?" Percy asked dubiously, but as usual nobody answered him.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Poseidon groaned. Was his son doomed to have a difficult life?

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"No! Don't go over to the Dark Side! They don't have cookies!" Apollo sobbed hysterically.

"Ok-ay, now that's weird, even for me." Percy whispered to Thalia, who he seemed to be warming up to. She snorted loudly making everyone turn and look. She ignored it and started reading again.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele, **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"For trying to learn?" Athena asked indignantly.

Percy just shrugged, "She turned out to be this monster thingo."

Hades had a sneaking suspicion on who this 'Mrs. Dodds' was and dearly hoped he was wrong, or Poseidon would be giving him some quality time with father.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

All of this evidence was pointing towards Hades' guess.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

_Oh yeah, definitely Alecto_.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

Thalia reached around Percy and slapped Grover upside the head. Grover didn't say anything as he probably deserved it.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did, Kelp Head." Thalia said fondly.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"It just has to be that one doesn't it?" Hera said and all the others who experienced it shuddered.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he **_**did **_**this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,**

"GOD!? THAT IS AN INSULT!" Zeus bellowed, thunder boomed in the background.

Percy opened his mouth to ask a question before closing it again. "Actually I'm not even going to bother this time." He grumbled.

**and—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"You just took a war that lasted years and condensed it into a couple of sentences." Athena said irritably.

Bianca frowned. She hadn't known Percy for very long but from the time they had spent together, she thought that Percy would usually have said something rather cocky. It seemed that she wasn't the only one who noticed, Thalia had a worried look on her face, but as she caught Bianca looking she gave her a withering glare.

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"I know the answer now." Percy said triumphantly. Thalia looked up from the book with hope.

"You could be a history teacher, or a museum curator." He said.

"That's true." Hephaestus said thoughtfully. Quite a few people jumped having forgotten he was there since he was so quiet.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

"Ugh," Aphrodite said, "She really needs a makeover."

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

Several snorts were heard throughout the room.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"Boys _are _doofuses." Artemis said smugly, and everyone - yes even Percy - wisely decided not to comment.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"They are." Grover said before clapping his hand to his mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked, sending the mortified satyr a queer look.

Thalia facepalmed.

"Nice going, Goat Boy." She said, sarcasm dripping from her words.

Percy huffed before slumping in his seat.

"Don't slouch." Hera automatically reprimanded him.

With an expression of long suffering, Percy sat up straighter and shot Hera a look that clearly said: _Better?_ Luckily Hera had turned her attentions to Hermes and Apollo who had been whispering together with a devious look in their eyes.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"How eloquent of you." Bianca said amusedly.

"Do you even know how to spell that?" Thalia replied bitingly, and continued reading before Bianca could respond.

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"He's just doing what's best for you." Hestia said kindly.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever **_**lived, **_**and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"Wow,"

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. **

Athena shook her head despairingly. The boy really needed a private tutor.

**No—he didn't expect me to be **_**as good; **_**he expected me to be **_**better. **_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"I know," Thalia said sympathetically, effectively interrupting herself, "Dyslexia sucks."

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

Everyone in the room turned to stare accusingly at Zeus and Poseidon, who immediately said "It's his fault!" while pointing at each other, except Percy who was oblivious.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. **

Grover scowled, those pigeons had been very distressed and he couldn't help.

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that **_**school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"Sorry about that." Grover said.

"Nah, it's okay. It took my mind off things." Percy replied, waving it off.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years **

"Six schools," Hermes whistled, "That's even more than most of my kids."

**and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Aww," The goddesses cooed.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"That is SO COOL!" Apollo yelled excitedly, "I am totally turning my chariot into that some time."

"You have a _chariot_?" Percy asked, his eyes wide.

"Chariot? Did I say chariot?" Apollo said, frantically searching for a cover up. "I meant chair – yes chair! It's really new technology. It can change into any kind of chair I want!"

Percy raised an eyebrow. Even _he_ could see through that lie.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

The amnesiac demigod growled.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

Everybody laughed at Percy's description, though Aphrodite voiced her disgust at Nancy's looks.

"EEEWW! That is so gross, not even MY makeover abilities could make her look decent!"

Thalia had covered Percy's ears during the Love Goddesses's rant, causing Percy to bite her hand.

"ARGH, HE BIT ME! PERSEUS JACKSON YOU ARE SO GOING TO GET IT!" Thalia screamed, dropping the book. Percy jumped off the couch that they were sitting on and ran, trying to get away from the wrath of an angry daughter of Zeus. This continued for about two minutes until Athena snapped

"That is enough! Get back to your seats now."

Thalia picked up the book again and flicked to the right page, grudgingly admitting to herself that she enjoyed getting pissed off by Percy again.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"Do you compare things to water often?" Demeter asked curiously.

Percy shrugged. "I guess so; it's one place I can really think." He said.

"Not like you do much of that anyway." Thalia teased. Percy rolled his eyes and whacked her.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

"That girl is horrendous." Zoe said decisively, gaining many looks of surprise.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

Hades and Zeus glared at Poseidon who was grinning proudly at his son.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"Never guess your punishment!" Hermes moaned. "Then they give you that punishment as well as the one that they already thought of. That's Rule 5."

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"No shit Sherlock." Thalia said deadpan.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. **_**I **_**pushed her."**

"That's sweet of you, but I don't think that will work." Hestia said sympathetically.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"Still does." Said satyr mumbled.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

"Demanding much?" Apollo joked, trying to stop the trepidation that was building.

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "**_**Now**_**."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Mine's probably better than yours." Ares bragged.

"Wanna bet on that?" Percy said, giving said glare. The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees and Ares shrunk down into his throne. Who knew that someone so laid back could look so evil?

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

Poseidon inwardly groaned, he knew it was a monster, he just had to figure out which one…

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"I wouldn't be so sure." Hades said. Thalia gave him a weird look and read the next line.

**I wasn't so sure.**

The Lord of the Dead looked nonplussed, before he remembered what he had sent after Percy and sunk into his throne, his face paler than usual.

"What's wrong Hades?" Athena asked.

"Nothing, nothing…"

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

Poseidon moaned and hit himself repeatedly on the head, seething at the centaur.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"You wish," Thalia scoffed.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Not a good sign." Hephaestus said.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Ares leaned forward in anticipation for the fight.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

Percy shivered at the reminder. He could still see her sinister expression when he closed his eyes.

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

Poseidon's eyes narrowed at Zeus.

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"I still don't." Percy said, giving a pointed look at everyone.

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"How much did you make?" Hermes asked eagerly.

"Hermes, now is not the time." Hera said sternly.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"It's a good book." Athena protested.

"You don't have dyslexia." Percy shot back. Even without his memory, Percy was still dissing the gods.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

Faster than anyone could see, Poseidon had slammed Hades against his throne, his hands around the Lord of the Dead's throat.

"YOU SENT A FURY!" Poseidon roared. Everyone was shocked still, before Hermes, Apollo, Hephaestus and Zeus managed to pull the furious God of the Sea off Hades.

As Hestia tried to calm Poseidon down, Percy was sitting flabbergasted, amazed at Poseidon's reaction. At first, he thought Poseidon was just standing up for him – which he didn't need – but now is seemed more… protective? Percy massaged his temples, feeling the oncoming headache.

**Then things got even stranger.**

"How could things get stranger?" Aphrodite asked.

Percy shook his head and made a gesture that said: _You'll see_.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

Poseidon let out a breath that he hadn't realised he was holding in relief.

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

Poseidon gripped the arms of his throne, fretting for the safety of his son.

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wimp," Ares said. You can guess which God of War got hit with half the Pacific Ocean.

"Whoa," Percy said, his eyes as wide as saucers, "How did you do that?" He looked up at the ceiling looking for a lever of some sort.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

Hades rolled his eyes at Alecto's newest form of endearment.

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hisss!**_

"That was… impressive for his first monster." Demeter told Poseidon quietly.

"Impressive? He was amazing!"

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"That's creepy." Aphrodite said, shuddering.

"You weren't there." Percy muttered. This was his last memory, after that, everything went blank.

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

Thalia shook her head; Kelp for Brains was still letting the Mist affect him.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"I've got to try some of those." Apollo said dreamily. Everyone inched away from him slightly.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?"

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our **_**teacher.**_ **Duh!"**

"I don't get it." Apollo said.

"It's called the Mist you dimwit." Artemis hissed, so Percy couldn't hear.

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"You do realise that you're an absolute rubbish liar." Thalia said. Grover's ears turned red.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

"Now, Ch- Mr. Brunner can lie."

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"That's it, I'm done." Thalia said snapping the book shut.

"I think that we should go to bed now and continue reading tomorrow." Athena said, as it would be quite late if time wasn't frozen.

Hermes led the future people to their rooms. Percy and Grover got a room to share and Thalia, Zoe and Bianca shared another.

"These are our guest rooms," Hermes explained, "When you walk in, they will change to suit you. They are sound proof and will provide you with a change of clothes for tomorrow. Good night." And he disappeared.

"Well see you in the morning I guess." Percy said, before he and Grover walked into their room. Suddenly half of the room's walls depicted the beach and ocean. The other half showed forest and trees. Percy's bed had a blue-green headboard and a sea themed bed spread. Grover's had a brown headboard and a leafy bead spread.

Before Percy could ask any questions, Grover collapsed on his bed and started snoring. Percy sighed heavily. This had been a seriously strange experience, reading about himself. He felt memories trickling into his mind as his life was being read out loud. He felt phantom rain on his skin and he could sense the confusion that he had felt. Percy was exhausted and he flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep instantly.

The girls however were not so peaceful. Their room had been split into thirds. Zoe's third was completely silver with green vines on the walls and bed. Bianca's third was also silver, but it had pictures of her brother and black stripes. Thalia's third was black with sky blue lightning bolts and the logos of her favourite bands.

The daughter of Zeus said a stiff good night to Zoe, ignored Bianca completely and jumped onto her bed.

"What is your problem?" Bianca demanded, though she had an inkling of Thalia's answer.

"WHAT'S MY PROBLEM?! MY PROBLEM IS YOU, BIANCA DI ANGELO! YOU ARE THE REASON THAT MY KELP-BRAINED IDIOT OF A COUSIN HAS NO MEMORY!" Thalia screeched. "HE COULD HAVE DIED! AND ALL FOR A STUPID TOY! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO SEE HIM SITTING THERE AND NOT HAVE A CARE IN THE WORLD WHEN I KNOW THAT WHEN HE GETS HIS MEMORY BACK, HE WON'T HAVE A CHANCE FOR THAT ANYMORE! ANNABETH COULD BE DEAD AND PERCY DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HER MUCH LESS MOAN AND BROOD ABOUT IT! PERCY DOESN'T KNOW A THING ABOUT US OR THE QUEST OR TYSON OR- OR… ANYONE! AND YOU ASK WHAT MY PROBLEM IS?!"

Thalia finished her rant and flung herself onto her bed as she tried to hold back her sobs. Bianca stood stock still, her eyes wide and teary. She pushed off Zoe's attempt to console her and pulled the covers of her bed over her head.

Zoe may have been thousands of years old, but right then she was just as clueless on how to fix things as any other person.

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


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